Do you have a pension if self employed

[FlorrieFosdyke]

I went self employed two years ago. I don't currently pay into a pension. How many others are in this situation? What is your plan for retirement?

Prior to going self employed, I worked in normal employment but my existing pension will only give me an annual pension of circa £4k. Clearly not enough to live comfortably.

My husband's pension pot is worse than mine.

I know I need proper financial advice, but I just wondered what other people do? It does worry me. At the moment we are investigating into our business, so not managed to sort setting anything up.

I was in a similar position for a long time and very uneasy about it. Just this year we've taken pension advice and finally got started. It is a major expense, which can be difficult when you're investing in the company in order to grow it.

We went with Contractor Wealth as our situation is quite complicated. Most people I know who are running limited companies as a contracting vehicle are paying into a fund like one of the ones mentioned on this page.

Yes I pay into a cheap Vanguard pension called Target Retirement 2045.

The fees are super low and the website is easy to use.

I am sure there are other similar providers out there. Others charge £££££…

Nope I'm literally banking on my parents to eventually die and leave me a house to sell. Risky strategy but it's all I've got!

Same situation here.

Went self employed 4 months ago and currently paying no pension and I don't know where to start to be honest.

My old work based pension is with nest and is shockingly crap because before they were introduced I didn't have a pension as couldn't ever afford to pay into one.

I really need to speak to someone

My DH is self employed. He didn't have a pension when we met so started a private pension with Virgin that he pays into every month. His accountant has just suggested he could set up a workplace pension which he hadn't realised - he can pay in from his personal money then his 'business' can pay in a contribution too and get tax relief. Or something like that!

Doesn't affect us directly as OH has a private pension but I do wonder what friends & family (who are SE) will do.
Often they just say they have concentrated on paying the mortgage and will live off the value of the house when they retire but when asked how this will work they don't seem to know.
I know they could downsize, move away, equity release etc but it seems a risky strategy.

Yes, and ISA. Have a look at meaningful money website/podcasts v helpful

I'm Ltd Co and pay pension contributions from my company into my personal pension plan. It reduces profits and therefore tax.

We got to 52 and panicked! Saw a financial advisor who advised us to start putting away a set amount each month. Yes there are charges but over the past 5 years she’s been worth every penny.
It makes sense, once your business is established to balance leaving money in to grow the business further and putting money into your pension because before you know it you’ll be in your 50s and really panicking. Remember the sooner you put it in, the more time it has to grow and give you a decent pension.
We’ve been very lucky that in the last few years the business has done well so we’ve managed to put large extra sums into it,

We obviously deeply regret not starting our pensions earlier, and we’ve drummed into our children that even if it’s a small amount, just do it!

TheDogsMother · Today 14:02
I'm Ltd Co and pay pension contributions from my company into my personal pension plan. It reduces profits and therefore tax.

Same here, it’s a no brainier to put it into a pension rather than pay the tax.

Yes! I’m freelance and have a pension. It’s essential.
I hear a lot of good things about pension bee. Flexible pensions for the self employed www.pensionbee.com/self-employed-pension I don’t use them myself but probably would if I didn’t already have one.

As a sole trader I pay into a SIPP (Self Invested Personal Pension). I use Vanguard Investor but there are many others such as AJ Bell, HL, Interactive Investor. Aim to find a provider with low fees and a multi-asset fund. Inclusive of fund fee I am paying 0.37% in fees (Vanguard platform fee is 0.15% and the fund I use has a 0.22% fee).

Podcast about how to choose a fund if you need some guidance: meaningfulmoney.tv/BW7

If you are a limited company, the company can make contributions to a pension scheme and save on corporation tax.

Are you under 40? You could start a LISA e.g If you pay in £4k a year the government will give you £1k a year

Following.

Yes, mine is with Penfold and I like how easy it is to manage through the app and change my contributions if I earn more or less during some months. Not managing to put aside much at the moment but it all adds up over time... I'm fortunate to already own the flat my DM lives in so will be able to sell that in the future to get a lump sum to invest.

Yes - well I’m a Director in my own limited company so I take salary and dividends up to £48k and any excess in profits I put in my pension.

@ApplApple42 No, I'm over 40 so can't take advantage of LISAs unfortunately.

Thanks for all the replies. Lots to think about. We are a limited company, so I guess I can continue to pay into our existing pensions and add company contribution, if that's allowed. I'll talk to our accountant.

Thanks for the links. I'll read / listen.

We definitely have to sort it sooner rather than later.

We were self employed for 30 years. We paid in lump sums to our savings depending on how the business did each year. Some into pensions, some into isas, some years nothing. We have ended up with a reasonable pot in both isas and pensions. We are aiming to use our isas for the next 4 or 5 years, and start on the pension pot when we get to 75, using drawdown and leaving the rest invested. If we live longer, we can always downsize or equity release as a last resort. Both sets of our parents lived on state pensions and both had enough to live on as they got older. We hope to have a good 10 years of holidays before ailments and insurance costs stop us. I think the important thing is to get your mortgage paid up before you retire. We have friends who haven't and it really restricts their spare cash.